Never Trust A Lady

conservative gray suits. But at least the alley had been roped off with crime-scene tape, and Sheriff Taylor’s people were doing a good job of keeping both the news media and the merely curious confined to the town square.

“I think he’ll probably forgive you,” Hawk said gruffly.

He didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. They felt too big, clumsy and useless for what he wanted to do, which was touch her face in awe and thanksgiving, stroke her hair, gather her oh so gently against his heart. He also wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattled.

He didn’t know what to do with his eyes, either. What he was doing was looking everywhere, anywhere but at Jane, because she was the only thing in this world he wanted to see. He couldn’t look at her, even though he feared she’d disappear in a puff of smoke if he didn’t, because he feared what she might see in his face even more.

So he kept his hands clasped tightly between his knees and followed the comings and goings of the army of law enforcement personnel with burning eyes, while every nerve in his body hummed and vibrated to the same frequency as hers.

“Is he going to be all right?” Jane asked.

Aaron may forgive me, Tom, but will you?

“Yeah,” Tom muttered, clearing his throat. “Just needs some stitches. They’d have taken him before now, but he won’t let ’em. Not until they’ve got things wrapped up here.”

He looks so angry, she thought. As if he can’t stand the sight of me. I don’t blame him.

She wanted to touch him so badly. She wanted to reach out and put her hand on his face, and smooth away the frown and make him smile again, that sweet, crooked smile that made her ache inside. But he looked so grim and isolated, so unreachable. And as if she were still feeling the effects of Connie’s poison, her arms wouldn’t obey her wishes.

She wanted his arms around her, holding her close, keeping her safe, keeping her warm. Even if she didn’t deserve it. Her body trembled with wanting. How will I survive, she wondered, if he never holds me again?

A white-haired man dressed in a suit and tie and wearing latex gloves came stumping up to them. He had a small plastic bag in each hand, one containing Connie’s little jeweled pen, the other a vial containing a small amount of murky-looking liquid. He gave Jane a nod, then spoke briskly to Tom, who’d gotten to his feet at his approach.

“Tests’ll confirm it, but I’m sure it’s…oh, well, forget the scientific name-let‘s just say it’s a tranquilizer, enough to bring down a bull elephant. You were lucky, young lady.” His bristly white eyebrows twitched in Jane’s direction. “Looks like she barely nicked ya. Otherwise, you’da been dead for sure.”

And with that he took himself off, continuing on his way across the parking lot and around the corner with the stoop-shouldered, slightly sideways gait of the still-vigorous elderly. Jane drew a shaken breath and said, “Who was that?”

Hawk didn’t answer. He couldn’t look at her. He couldn’t, not without remembering the way he’d felt when she’d hit the floor right in front of him. He never wanted to feel like that again in his life. He didn’t think he’d be able to survive it.

“Gotta…talk to Aaron,” he mumbled, and lurched off to where the FBI agent was about to be loaded into a waiting EMS wagon.

“Hey, Hawkins,” Campbell greeted him, sounding weak but grinning anyway.

“Hey, yourself,” Hawk said gruffly. “I’d shake your hand, but…”

“Yeah, looks like I’m kinda tied up at the moment.”

“Yeah, well…” Hawk stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and shifted uneasily; moments like this were never easy for him. He coughed and muttered, “Just wanted to say thanks, before they, uh, haul you in for repairs.”

“Hey, you too.”

“Oh-well.” Hawk made a dismissive gesture and looked off into the distance. Campbell followed his gaze.

“That’s one helluva lady,” he said softly. “But I expect you know that, don’t you?”

Hawk didn’t answer. Two paramedics hoisted the FBI agent’s gurney onto its wheels and began rolling it toward the waiting van. Campbell lifted his head. “Hey, Hawk?”

“Yeah?” He took a few steps, keeping pace with the gumey.

“Take good care of her, you hear?”

He halted. “Hey, wait It’s not like that.”

“The hell it’s not.” The gumey slid into the van, but Campbell’s eyes still followed him, glowing like coals in his pale face. “Look man, just because it’s never happened to me, doesn’t mean I don’t know it when I see it. You let that lady go, you’re crazy, you hear me? Crazy.”

The van’s door began to close. The last thing Hawk heard Aaron Campbell say before they did was, “Hey-ask her if she’s got a daughter!”

Jane watched the two men in immaculate gray suits walk away across the dusty parking lot and disappear around a corner.

“What’d they want?” Tom growled, startling her. She was still a little bemused, and hadn’t heard him come back.

“Oh,” she said, smiling up at him from the gurney’s hard pillow, “they were just being nice.” Under the edge of the rough EMS blanket, she was fingering a plain white business card.

Tom was glowering-there was no other word for it. “They’re CIA.”

“Yes,” Jane murmured, “I know.” And they asked me to give them a call-me! Jane Carlysle. She wouldn’t, of course; the very idea was, well, preposterous. But still…the CIA.

Jane Carlysle…spy.

Oh my.

“They’re gonna want to take you over to the hospital…check everything out,” Tom said, still scowling at her, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. “Just to be on the safe side.”

“Yes, I guess.” She took a deep breath. Her heart began to hurt. She pressed her fist into her stomach and felt her pulse bang against her knuckles. “And what about you? What’s next for you. Tom?”

He shifted restlessly and looked off into the distance. “I’ll be going back to Washington.”

“Oh,” she said. “Of course.” Please, God. don’t let me fall apart.

“I’ve got some things to do there. There’s…someone I need to see.”

“I see,” she whispered, though she didn’t, not at all. I won’t ask if he’s coming back… I won’t. Please, God, don’t let me ask “There’s someone…I have to say goodbye to.” His voice sounded strange…thick and husky.

Jane’s breath seemed to catch in her throat. She could only stare at him, suspended in a strange, shimmering state, like a newly emerging chrysalis. Do I dare? If he would only look at me…

She never knew where she got the strength to say the words, calmly, quietly. “When are you leaving?”

“I dunno…depends.” And now at last he was looking at her, rocking a little onto the balls of his feet, then back again, as if he felt ill at ease. His frown seemed less severe than usual. Almost wary. “I’ve got a few things to wrap up around here first Then, I guess it pretty much depends on when they let you go.”

“I don’t understand.” But she did. Oh, she did. And she felt as if her heart would fly right out of her chest. Surely he would see it. Surely he must know.

“I want…I’d like you to come with me.”

Somehow she knew that was all he would say. All he could say. And it was enough.

She reached for his hand. He took hold of hers like a drowning man thrown a rope, and after a moment, raised it, closed his eyes and pressed his lips against her palm. She felt a shudder pass through him. and then a sigh.

Epilogue